“Yes?”
“I think it’s time to issue an order of protection.”
Hunter didn’t answer.
“What’s an order of protection?”
“She’ll be safer if we stay on the move,” Chaz argued, his words slurring a little.
“We can discuss this later,” Hunter replied. He turned and added, “We often have guests from other cells who visit. We also have human technical representatives who fix our equipment that sometimes remain overnight. You can stay upstairs. And I’m sure you’ll find the accommodations are to your satisfaction.”
“No, wait a minute. Don’t try to change the subject. I want to know what you’re talking about,” Stacy insisted.
Hunter turned to her, his face falling, his normally stoic countenance softening. He stared at her, hesitant to continue. Was that because he understood responsibility? Or perhaps he understood the need to be true to any and all obligations?
“An order of protection means that any vampire that touches you forfeits his life. It is the order we give with the humans that run the donation services. It should be given to you as well.”
Stacy’s insides hollowed. “Wait a minute. I refuse to be the cause of someone, anyone losing their life.”
Sam frowned. “I don’t make the suggestion lightly, Stacy. But it is for your own good.”
“No. I couldn’t live with that kind of order sitting on my shoulders. I work to save lives. I don’t take them just because I exist.”
“Very noble of you, but not exactly safe,” Sam added. She cocked her head, and Stacy read the respect filling her gaze. “Very well. I’ll agree for now. But I will give you fair warning; I may decide to do it anyway without your permission.”
Sam bowed and went off to see about the young vampires, and Hunter gave her a thoughtful stare. Was that a tinge of respect lighting his gaze? Stacy would have to find out.
“I have only one request,” he continued. “Please make sure that either Charles or Sam or I are with you at all times. I control my cell, but individual vampires are much like individual humans, they may say one thing and decide to do another.”
“Even at the cost of their life?”
Hunter nodded, his gaze sad. “The blood,” was all he said. He helped her get Chaz to their quarters, and they both watched him go out. Hunter seemed a bit uncomfortable, and Stacy hid a smile.
“I threatened your life not more than twenty-four hours ago, and yet here you are, trying to save mine. Why?” Hunter asked, his tone genuinely puzzled.
“I told you before, I have a personal stake in this. I want to live.”
“Is that the only reason?”
Stacy laughed softly so as not to disturb Chaz even though she knew he couldn’t hear. “What do you think?”
“I think, Stacy, that perhaps it is time for my people to begin to embrace change. Perhaps we should not fight so hard against it. But that requires a precious commodity.”
“You mean, trust?”
“Yes.”
“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along.”
“Maybe, now, we will listen.”
He bowed and shut the door to the bedroom with a gentle click. Stacy longed to get to work but knew she needed to sleep for a few hours. Chaz lay exactly as they’d placed him, clothes and all, which seemed uncomfortable.
Stacy watched Chaz sleep with newfound respect. So much had happened to them, between them, that she’d been unable to grasp the real Charles. Champion wasn’t a word she used lightly, but the word kept pounding in her brain.
In her head, Stacy carried characters. Caricatures, perhaps. Vampires were cold, unfeeling creatures like Hunter. But now that humans and vampires faced a universal problem, she realized they were very alike. They simply wanted to live. They wanted even more to belong.
All Chaz wanted was to be a man. And when the need arose, a Paladin. A protector. So that his people could exist. So he could exist.
Stacy traced a fingertip over his brows, down the line of his cheek, and around the curve of his jaw. Fierce yet tender. Strong but capable of so much feeling inside.
She undid the buttons on his shirt and finally tugged and pulled the garment off. Then she undid his belt, unsnapped the clip, and shimmied his pants down his legs. Fierce yet tender, he seemed so much more human in repose.
Stacy yawned and let go of the tension keeping exhaustion at bay. She removed her own clothes and climbed into the bed next to Chaz. Would she ever get used to that first shock, the cool skin that heated quickly next to hers?
A reminder that they were different. Physically. And yet, she thought as she fell asleep, perhaps not so different after all.
Chapter Nineteen
Chaz
Waking up next to someone was a pleasure Chaz didn’t indulge in very often. Normally, he came out of the sleep, terrified of where he was, having fought his way out of a coffin and clawed his way up one too many times to forget that particular delight.
Her body curled around his, skin to skin on every possible place they could touch. Her hair still smelled of that citrus shampoo, making him think of freshness and light. He drew in a deep breath, inhaling her unique scent, which reminded him so much of spring.
Freshness and light. That’s what she gave him. Strength. Honor. Fortitude. Intelligence. He could go on and on. And what could compare to the soft curve of her hip, the perfect taper of thigh to calf? God, she even had beautiful feet.
Uh-oh. Chaz clamped down hard on his thoughts before something else became hard.
Looking back through the past, Chaz knew his human life came when life was simple and centered mostly on survival. Indulgence was a word for the very few, the nobility, not a blacksmith and soldier. And cheap? A simple sword cut on the battlefield usually meant death. Childbirth was a gamble at best. Starvation was a general certainty more often than not within a lifetime.
And yet, there’d been joy. The moment when the sky lightened at dawn with streaks of pink fire, and the air smelled as crisp and clean as a mountain spring. The moment when he put away his hammer and let the fire die down, stretching sore muscles with an inner smile, knowing he’d performed a decent day’s work—the laughter of children playing in the alley next to his smithy. As a human, he’d known peace. A quiet within his soul. Something he’d never been able to achieve as a vampire.
Until now.
A smile of wonder lit his face. Stacy snuggled closer to his body, seeking a warmth that would never be there. Not physically, anyway, and he asked himself the question he’d been dreading since they’d first met: Could she, no, would she be able to accept that?
He’d been alone for so long. To finally find someone who could fill the void only to know he would have to give her up?
Payment. He tightened his arms around her as he fought back the agony of his thoughts. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he couldn’t deny logic, a life for a life. He’d caused Mary’s death; he would have to give Stacy up as payment. He knew that now. And like the breaking of delicate glass, his insides shattered at the thought.
As a vampire, time was the one commodity Chaz had never thought about. Each moment they were together would carry a special meaning, become a treasure, be placed inside a box, and let out later when the loneliness got too hard to bear.
A gentle palm cupped his cheek. She looked up at him with a hint of alarm in her gaze. She sensed his dilemma but not his decision. And Chaz fell into the only place he knew that could totally banish the pain. She lifted up and feathered light kisses over his eyes, his nose, his cheeks, and his chin. Everywhere except where he wanted her to go. So he reached around, cupped the back of her head with his hand, and gently parted her lips with his. They’d made love fast and furious but never savory and slow, and Chaz wanted to imprint each millisecond in his memory.
He broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers, their breath mingling as one.
“Why, Stacy?”
She knew exactly what he was ask
ing. “I don’t know, Chaz, but I believe there are reasons for everything, and I’m not going to question that anymore.”
“You’ve become the light in my very dark existence.”
She gave him a sad smile. “Only because you believe it’s dark.”
She kissed him, her lips covering his, not allowing him to say more. Tiny bolts of lightning blazed up and down his spine urging him to forget all of his good intentions. Her tongue swirled around his and grazed each incisor on purpose, knowing what that did to him. She opened her neck as she opened her body to him, giving him everything within. He didn’t deserve such generosity.
He wasn’t about to say no. He twirled her nipples into tight little buds with his free hand; his grin grew as she moaned. He nipped his way down from the bottom of her ear to her shoulder, sorely tempted but not ready to accept the prize she offered.
Her legs kept trying to urge him on top of her, but Chaz was no fool. And he’d been making love to women for nearly a thousand years. This was one time when he was going to enjoy her moment as well as his.
He grazed her skin, roaming from her shoulder to her breast, replacing his fingers with his lips. He swirled his tongue around her areola, bringing her nipple to full attention before nipping gently. “Harder, Chaz. Harder.”
He bit down, and she cried out, but he refused to draw blood. Amazement filled him at the oh-so-scientific chemist turning into the writhing woman who loved it hot. And he grinned.
She started playing with his nipples sending shots of pure pleasure into his cock. All right, she had him there. He could only stand so much before he gave in too, and when her hand closed around his erection, Chaz knew he’d have to speed up his timetable—a little. He slid down and began kissing her belly, his tongue swirling over satiny skin. And though it served no function at all, really, there was something outrageously erogenous about a belly button. Her quick indrawn breath told him so.
But that was not the prize he coveted. He swirled his tongue down over her mound, inhaling her womanly scent. His hormones pinged in answer, and he grew harder, a deep urgency to mate with her growing in his belly. She tasted salty and sweet; creating a hunger that could be quenched but never satisfied.
He lapped at her core, and she cried out. “Oh, God, Chaz. Don’t. I want to—last.”
He smiled and stopped, letting her rest until she regained control. He slid back up until their lips met and let her taste herself on his tongue. “You’re so beautiful, Stacy. Inside and out.”
Tears filled her eyes. “So are you, whether you know it or not.”
He rolled her over on her back and spread her legs with his knee. He dared not believe that, not even for a moment. Instead, he stopped and rested just before entering her body. She squirmed and rocked, and he continued to tease until she reached the moment where he knew she would plead. Then he slid his cock just slightly inside. Her muscles clamped around him, and he swallowed hard.
Her eyes opened and swirled with heat. He found a gentle warmth, a special gaze that would only be shared by the two of them. With a single thrust, he filled her, and she cried out. Sweet heaven. That’s what this was. Heaven. On earth.
Her muscles contracted all around his cock, and the time for slow disappeared. Chaz drew back and thrust into her body, taking care not to hurt her, but knowing she enjoyed his strength. Her eyes closed, and her body stilled, her face filled with pleasure. And just as she reached the pinnacle, just as her cries told him she’d reached the edge, Chaz sank his incisors into her neck. His body sang with her blood, and the knowledge that it was Stacy’s blood only made the taste sweeter. He filled her, drinking only enough to make her pleasure that much more intense. Now was the time for giving, not taking, and so he thrust into her body and drew on her neck. And she climbed with him. Higher and higher, harder and harder, until she shattered for him.
Then all sane thought ceased. His body took over, his orgasm crested, and a wondrous thing happened. In the next moment, her breath hitched, and she started to convulse again, drawing an intense explosion out of his body. He withdrew from her neck, and their cries harmonized throughout the room until only tiny aftershocks remained.
Chaz pulled her tight against his chest as he slipped out of her. He listened to her swift indrawn breaths subside as her heartbeat slowed, and Chaz knew he wanted this moment to last forever. He wanted to drown in her warmth, her goodness, make the purity of her soul his. But he couldn’t.
“Chaz, I—”
He placed a gentle finger against her lips. Now was the time for loving, for creating memories, not worrying about the future. He shook his head, hoping his gaze was as fierce as his emotions as he silently begged her to float with him, to remember that the only truly important moments were those they shared, that nothing could reach them until they opened the door.
She nodded, smiling as she snuggled deep into his body. Soon her soft breaths told him she’d fallen back to sleep. And for a little while, she would be his—only his.
Chaz waited until Stacy was deeply asleep before climbing out of bed. He stared down at her; his heart turned over in his chest. As a Paladin, he’d done what was expected of him. His eyes burned, dry, unencumbered. And yet, lying in bed rested the one person in this world he wanted to fight for.
No, die for.
Chaz turned away, stretching out his fingers. He hadn’t even known they’d curled into fists. He cleaned up and dressed, trying to bury his thoughts. As he closed the door, he closed the gateway to his heart.
Chaz hurried out of the main house and crossed the grounds of the compound. There were several small houses scattered about the property, cottages actually, for every cell was honor-bound to provide shelter to lone vampires traveling in the area. Not every vampire wanted to be a part of society or owe allegiance to a cell.
He called out to Hunter. Ozzie is on the premises.
I’m aware.
I don’t believe it’s a social visit.
Nor do I.
Still our job.
Understood.
Chaz’s mouth quirked. Communicating with Hunter was a courtesy, not a requirement.
The cottage stood at the very edge of the property closest to the woods. It still amazed him that there could be untouched land in the middle of one of the tri-states most affluent suburbs.
Ozzie rose from the bed as Chaz walked in. He didn’t look too good. Ozzie didn’t smile much, so his dark hair and dark eyes made him seem that much more taciturn. He’d been frowning, a normal pose for Ozzie, but Chaz sensed something was very wrong.
Still, they hugged and clapped backs. “If it isn’t my old friend John Osmund.”
“If it isn’t my old friend Charles Tower.”
They should have been smiling, happy to see one another, but circumstances dictated otherwise.
“He’s here, Chaz. Close by.”
“I figured as much.”
“Never thought the day would come.”
“Me neither.”
Ozzie shuffled his feet and stared at the floor. “He used a couple tricks he taught us. Nearly lost him. Twice. And I vowed that would never happen again.”
Ozzie finally glanced up, and Chaz sighed at the disbelief in his gaze. Chaz let go of the pretense of being strong, and his shoulders fell.
“I’m not surprised.”
“The woman?” Ozzie asked, hope in his voice. “She’s all right?”
“Yeah, she’s safe. She’s here. In the main house.”
Ozzie’s gaze fell to the floor again. His hands clasped together. “He knows she’s here.”
He watched his friend carefully. “The craving will force him to make a mistake.”
“That wily old fox? Never.”
“If he doesn’t,” Chaz insisted. “We’ll have to make him make one then. She’s dead if we don’t.”
Ozzie lifted his gaze in surprise. “That’s not going to be easy.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know.”
Neither of them spoke after that, the silence drawing out so long he could actually hear the sounds of the woods. “God. It’s Mick. He killed Pitch.”
Ozzie swung around. Chaz took one look and knew Ozzie was about to blow. He had to duck as his fellow Paladin pulled back his arm and made to punch the wall. Chaz stopped him just in time, but he could feel the muscles quivering with the need to explode beneath his fingertips. “We’re guests. Not popular ones, either.”
Chaz let go when he was sure Ozzie wouldn’t try again. “Do you remember when we first met? In Boston?”
“I wasn’t one for conversation.” Ozzie fell into a chair, shoulders hunched forward.
“You still aren’t.”
“Mick looked at me. You remember how those bushy brows of his would draw together? Would make you feel like he could see right through you.”
“Probably could.”
“Asked me what I was searching for,” Ozzie said. “It was him, Chaz. He was my teacher. My friend.” The last came out just above a whisper. “My father.”
“For all of us. But he’s not Mick anymore. You’d better get that through your head. He’s not human, not vampire. He’s a creature. An ‘it.’ Period.”
Ozzie winced with every word.
“And I need to know I can count on you when the time comes.”
His fellow Paladin didn’t answer, scaring Chaz.
“I loved him too. That’s the problem. Ozzie, listen to me. I got up close and personal. That thing out there is pure need. You’ve had blood fever before. You know what that’s like. We all have. Multiply that by ten thousand, and you still don’t come close. I even got some extract in him. Didn’t make a dent.”
Poor Oz. By all accounts, a loner even among vampires. Especially among the Paladin. Mick was the one person in this world the poor bastard cared about. More than cared. “He’ll kill hundreds of innocents.”
Ozzie jumped out of the chair and glared. “I’ll do my duty. Don’t worry.”
“I know you will.”
Chaz reached out and squeezed Ozzie’s shoulder. Ozzie shrugged him off and turned away.
Blood Rogue, #1 Page 15
